Viens, A.M. --- "Normative Uncertainty and Ethics in Emergency Risk Regulation" [2011] ELECD 917; in Alemanno, Alberto (ed), "Governing Disasters" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Governing Disasters

Editor(s): Alemanno, Alberto

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857935724

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: Normative Uncertainty and Ethics in Emergency Risk Regulation

Author(s): Viens, A.M.

Number of pages: 10

Extract:

9. Normative uncertainty and ethics in
emergency risk regulation
A.M. Viens

Risks are a pervasive and inescapable aspect of modern society. Indeed,
risks are endemic to our daily lives, with particular sources and levels of
risk contributing to what constitutes normalcy for most individuals and
populations. The significant risk of harm, loss or burden associated with
emergencies is different from what we typically experience in times of
normalcy and presents pressing challenges to risk regulation. The signifi-
cant risk of harm, loss or burden is, however, only one feature of emer-
gency. There are numerous events or activities that have significant risks
associated with them to which we do not justifiably apply the label of
`emergency'. It would be a mistake to differentiate times of normalcy and
emergency on the basis of the magnitude or seriousness of risk alone.
In this chapter, I focus on another feature of emergency: normative
uncertainty.1 It is a feature of emergency that risk regulation often, if not
exclusively, neglects to take into account. This neglect can have some
important justificatory and explanatory implications for what individuals
and groups ought or ought not to do ­ as well as what we ought and ought
not to do to individuals and groups being regulated ­ during times of
emergency. Different regulatory responses to emergency circumstances
may yield a different set of morally optimal outcomes, and risk regulation
can benefit from a greater understanding of how normative uncertainty
contributes to why normative standards can change in times ...